The work of everyday people is what makes America great. Workers, especially when united, make sure the work being done is fairly compensated and done so in a safe environment. Labor unions are a big part of that reality.

Unions built a strong middle class. Unions made sure women couldn’t be locked in a sweatshop to perish. Unions safeguarded the 40-hour work week. Unions fought and won overtime pay, health benefits, retirement benefits and more.

Yet, Americans have seen attacks on their health care, retirement security and ability to receive a fair return on their work. Working families struggle while powerful special interests get all the breaks.

Across the board in every state that has whittled away at worker rights, also known as “right to work,” there are lower wages, higher medical costs, higher poverty, more workplace deaths and more people living in an unsecure retirement.

For decades, wealthy special interests have used their massive fortunes to gain influence in government and steadily strip away rights earned by workers in the last century. Sadly, those attacks gained another foothold in June when the conservative U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employees could opt out of paying fees to the public sector unions that bargain for their wages, benefits and working conditions (Janus v. AFSCME).

Make no mistake, the Janus ruling is a win for corporate billionaires and powerful special interests and a loss for workers everywhere. The decision creates a path for weakening unions and undoing the important gains unions have made for workers in America, in both the public and private sectors.

Even without the Supreme Court decision, Pennsylvania makes it very difficult for workers to band together. Right now, public workers like police, firefighters, nurses, school district employees and social workers must go through a lengthy and bureaucratic procedure to join together and bargain for their wages, health care and working conditions.

It’s time for responsible leaders in Pennsylvania to stand up for working people, their rights and their families.

That's why I am supporting the PA Workplace Freedom Act, which would make it easier for public sector workers to form a union if a simple majority of workers express support for it. It also would give certified unions access to new employees in order to explain the benefits of union membership.

It’s the people of Pennsylvania who are the engine of this economy and who make our state great. Unions help shape that, and it’s time for the legislature to acknowledge it.